


And There by Fangs a Tail

by PrairieFlower



Category: Garrison's Gorillas
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 23:31:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8598091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrairieFlower/pseuds/PrairieFlower
Summary: This is a bit of fluff and fun for Halloween.





	

And Thereby Fangs a Tale  
Chapter 1  
The front door opened a little after 9 am and a rather disheveled Actor walked slowly inside. He was pale under his normal light olive complexion. The clothes he was wearing were wrinkled: the shirt not tucked in his pants under the dirty tan jacket.

“Where have you been?” asked Casino, wondering if the man was drunk or sick.

Actor shook his head, frowning. 

Garrison came to his open door, arms crossed and an angry expression on his face. “In my office . . . now!”

The confidence man slowly walked inside the office and closed the door. He turned back to Garrison and slumped into the chair in front of the desk. Garrison got his first good look at the man.

“Why are you late? And what happened to you?” asked Craig, wavering between anger and concern.

“I don’t know,” replied the Italian uncertainly.  
“Where were you?” asked Garrison a bit less angrily.

Actor turned troubled eyes up to the lieutenant. “I don’t know that either.”

Now the anger was fully replaced by concern.

“Okay, what’s the last thing you remember?”

Actor thought about it. “I went home with a lovely young woman I met in the American Bar at the Savoy. I think we went to her flat on the edge of SoHo. We had another drink and went to bed. Things were fine and then she suddenly became very aggressive. I don’t remember anything else. I woke up in the alley behind the Savoy. I was fully clothed. Nothing was missing. Money, cigarettes, pipe . . . all there.” He looked up. “I don’t think she was able to put anything in the drink. Both of our drinks came from the same bottle.”

That probably let out the con man being slipped a mickey, thought Garrison. “You look pale.”

“I feel weak,” said Actor.

Craig walked around the desk and stopped beside Actor’s chair. He tipped the man’s head back and looked into his eyes. They seemed normal, if maybe a bit vague, like the rest of the man. Craig turned Actor’s head from side of side, looking for signs of a head injury. There was no swelling or bruising, but there was blood on his collar. Garrison tilted the man’s head away to uncover two puncture marks with a scant smear of blood along the right side of Actor’s neck. They were spaced apart enough for a human bite, but there were only two puncture marks and they were deep.

“That hurt?” he asked.

“What?” asked Actor.

“Looks like she bit you.”

Actor turned his eyes up at the officer. “Not that I know of.”

“She drew blood. It doesn’t hurt?”

Actor reached a hand up and felt along his neck with fingers, finding the punctures. A couple flakes of dried blood came away on his fingertips.

“It’s not sore in the least. But it is over the jugular vein. I don’t understand.”

“If you don’t, I sure don’t,” said Craig. “You hungry?”

Actor shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Well, go to bed. Maybe it will be clearer and you’ll feel better when you wake up,” suggested Garrison.

Actor nodded and pushed himself up out of the chair. Without a word, he slowly walked to the door and went upstairs, ignoring the remarks and questions from the men in the common room. 

Garrison waited until Actor was down the upstairs hall before coming out to the common room. 

“What’s wrong with him?” asked Chief.

“I don’t know,” replied Garrison. “He doesn’t know. Sounds like he got mugged, but nothing was taken off him.” He glanced between the men. “Anybody see who he left with?”

“A younger dame,” said Casino. “She was a looker. A little young for his tastes, but ivory skin, big dark eyes, dark hair. Never seen her before, but we don’t go to the Savoy with him a lot.”

“Don’t remember seein’ her when we got there. Don’t remember seein’ her come in either,” added Chief.

“She didn’t look British,” said Goniff. “More like some of those women in Yugoslavia or someplace like that.”

“Yeah,” agreed Casino. “What does he remember?”

“He remembers going to bed with her. Said she got rough. No bruises, but she bit him pretty deep on the side of his neck. Enough to draw blood.” Garrison shook his head. “Funny, looks like just the eye teeth. No other marks.”

Casino chuckled. “Sure it was the dame and not a bat?”

GGG

Late that afternoon, Actor came slowly down the stairs. He still looked pale and shaky. The others had just sat down to eat in the dining room. Actor took his seat and wrinkled his nose at the smell of the fried Spam. His plate was filled with greasy Spam and pork and beans. The Italian took one look, swallowed hard, got up rather quickly and walked away. Five pair of eyes followed him.

“It’s bad,” remarked Casino, “but I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“’Ere now,” objected Sgt/Major Rawlins.

Garrison shook his head and sliced a bite off his Spam. He wished his sister would come home soon. The food was barely palpable.

GGGGG

Actor did not appear again until the next morning. If anything he was paler and more wane. He ignored the men and went into Garrison’s office, shutting the door behind him. Garrison looked up as Actor slumped in the chair. He looked worse.

“You feel as bad as you look?” asked Craig.

“Worse,” replied the con man. “I couldn’t sleep last night. Very restless.”

“Well, you slept most of the day yesterday,” rationalized the lieutenant. “Let’s see your neck.” Maybe the wound was infected. Human bites were filthy.

Actor turned his head and pulled the collar of his shirt down. Garrison stared. There wasn’t a mark on his neck.

“It’s gone,” he said in confusion.

“Gone?” asked Actor. “Healed?”

“No sign of it.”

“Strange.”

Garrison sat back and studied the man. “Are you hungry?”

Actor shook his head. “Not at all, but I have a vague feeling I need something. I don’t know what.”

“Why don’t we go visit Doc Kaiser at Archbury. I don’t like your color. Maybe he has some ideas.”

It worried Craig when Actor readily agreed.

GGGGG

The air force doctor studied the man in front of him. Actor was sitting on the exam table, curled forward. Kaiser had never seen him when he wasn’t straight, even when injured. The man was downright ashen. Kaiser was confused. The story the men had told him was bizarre. And none of it made sense, so he ordered some blood tests.

When he returned with the lab results in his hand, he stared at Actor. 

“You said this started after the encounter with the woman night before last?”

Actor nodded.

“Well, you’re in luck. We have three units of AB negative blood. You’re dangerously anemic. I’m going to transfuse you.”

For some reason the thought of that made Actor feel better.

“So what do you think caused this, Major?” asked Garrison.

“Lieutenant, I have no earthly idea.”

GGG

Seven hours and three blood transfusions later, Garrison was driving them back to the mansion in the shadows of the setting sun. Actor was sitting beside him, a smile on his no longer pale face.

“I feel so much improved,” sighed the confidence man.

“I think I read too many books as a kid. You’re beginning to sound like a vampire.”

The two men turned their heads to look at each other.

Garrison shook his head, dismissing that thought. “No, vampires are fiction.”

“Perhaps,” mused Actor. “Funny, that blood infusing in my arm looked most . . . appetizing.”

“We’re the same blood type. You stay away from my neck!” exclaimed Craig, only half teasing.

“I have no intentions of biting you, Warden,” said Actor. He did not know whether to be annoyed or laugh at that remark.

Returning to the mansion, the two men entered the common room. The three cons looked at Actor assessingly.

“You look better, Mate,” said Goniff.

“Feel better?” asked Chief from his chair.

“Much,” replied Actor.

“So what’s wrong with yuh?” asked Casino, tossing his cards on the table and hooking an elbow over the back of his chair.

“Severe anemia,” replied Garrison.

The safecracker shook his head. “Next he’ll be turning into a bat. A vampire bat.”

“There is no such thing,” said Actor dismissively.

Instead of going to his office, Garrison headed for the library and motioned for Actor to follow. The two stopped inside.

“And what are we looking for?” asked Actor.  
“Dracula,” replied Garrison, going over to one wall of books.

“It isn’t here,” said Actor.

“You know all the books in here?” asked Garrison fixing his second with a surprised look.

“Of course,” replied Actor. “I have been here long enough to become acquainted with the titles. “You don’t mean you seriously believe that nonsense, do you?”

“You have a better explanation?” countered Craig.

Actor’s eyebrows furrowed together. “No.”

“What do you know about vampires?”

“Nothing,” said Actor, going to a set of encyclopedias.

“You are joking.”

“No.”

Garrison went back to studying the titles on the wall before him. “And why don’t you know anything about them?” Craig asked curiously. The man was a fount of information on everything else.

“We don’t have vampires in Italy.”

Actor pulled a volume from a set of encyclopedias and brought it to the table. Garrison came over to see what he had found. The Italian opened the book to ‘vampire’. The two read in silence.

“Hmm,” said Craig. “Been around awhile.”

“Yes,” agreed Actor. 

Craig crossed his arms and leaned back against the table. “I remember one Halloween at the Point somebody brought in the movie of Dracula with Bela Lugosi. Fiction to scare little kids.”

“Perhaps,” said Actor musingly. “However, the ‘fiction’ has been around since the 1100’s.”

Garrison turned to stare at his usually level-headed second in command. “You think there’s some basis in fact?”

Actor shrugged. “Do you have another explanation for what happened to me? Major Kaiser does not have one.”

“I guess we’ll just have to see what happens to you next.” Garrison straightened and walked to the door. He paused and looked back. “Just don’t bite any of the rest of us. I can’t lead a group of walking corpses.”

“You are so sympathetic, Warden,” parried Actor.

GGG

The next morning was a partial repeat of the day before. Actor had been restless all night and unable to sleep. Finally arising, he went to the window and pulled back the blackout curtains. Sunlight streamed into the room. Actor jumped back. It was so bright it almost hurt. 

Going into the bathroom, he took care of his absolutions and threw cold water on his face to wake up. Scrubbing his face dry with a towel, he reached to open the medicine cabinet to get his shaving kit and froze, hand in mid air. Looking back at him from the mirror was a transparent apparition of himself. He squeezed his eyes tight shut, shook his head and opened them again. The wispy vision of his refection was still there. The book had said one of the characteristics of vampires was they could not see themselves in a mirror. Shaving forgotten, he left the room almost at a run, still in his pajama bottoms. A quick stop in Teresa’s bathroom was made before he hurried downstairs.

“Lieutenant!”

Garrison, in his office, looked up with annoyance. Usually that was the Sgt/Major about something the cons had done to him. This was the American version of rank, followed by a distraught confidence man,   
barefoot and in his pajama bottoms, holding Terry’s hand mirror.

“Warden, I am fading!”

“You look fine to me,” countered Garrison.

“But I don’t look fine to me!” lamented the confidence man. “I can barely see myself in the mirror.”

He came around the desk and tried to show Garrison, but Craig had no problem seeing Actor’s reflection in the hand mirror. 

Hearing the commotion, the cons came to the door to see what was going on. Garrison had spoken to them after Actor had retired for the night and told them of the circumstances. After the initial laugh, they had realized this was serious.

“What’s going on?” asked Casino.

Actor looked into the mirror again. “Madre del Dio! I’m fading!” The ghostly apparition that looked back at him was difficult to see. “How will I see if I am presentable?” he moaned in distress.

“It’s all right, Actor,” assured Goniff helpfully. “We’ll make sure you look good for the ladies.”

GGG

Time passed quickly with worsening symptoms. The light of day irritated Actor’s eyes. He began sleeping during the day, and wandering the mansion and outside at night. Luckily their missions had become overnight ones so he could continue to work with the men. Sunglasses did little to help if they were outside in the sun though. His anemia returned. One night while on a mission, he disappeared briefly and came back with more color and a satisfied countenance that used to be reserved for a night of romance.

Back at the mansion, Garrison got the confidence man alone and asked what had happened. He still wasn’t ready for the man’s response. Actor opened his mouth and curled his upper lip. The man’s eye teeth lengthened and became sharper until they were truly fangs. As Garrison watched, the fangs shrank back up until the teeth were normal again.

“They must exude some kind of numbing substance,” said Actor finding this fascinating. “My victims do not even feel it. Just as I didn’t.”

“Wonderful.”

And as time went on, things rapidly worsened for the confidence man. Soon, even with the blackout curtains, it was too light in the room for him to get adequate sleep in the daytime. And he continued to roam the mansion and then outdoors at night.

Actor’s anemia seemed to stabilize, causing Garrison to ask him what he did at night besides read.

“I have been wandering around the area,” admitted the Italian. “I have tried cow blood. It is not appetizing. Neither is horse. I – um – have resorted to hanging around the Doves when things get too bad for me. With some of them, it is like having a cocktail with my meal.”

Garrison stared at him. “So you’re making more vampires?”

Actor shrugged. “I have no other alternative at this point. If you prefer, I will drive to London. That is of course, unless you wish to come up with a plausible explanation to Major Kaiser for my repeated bouts of ‘anemia.’

Explaining to the air force officer that his confidence man was a vampire would only result in all of them getting thrown into an insane asylum.

“Just don’t get caught.” 

Garrison found a library in London on one of his debriefing trips. He searched encyclopedias for any information that could help Actor. It seemed nothing short of a crucifix and wooden stake could help the man and that would be a permanent fix.

Soon they had to come up with an alternate way of getting the con man over to the continent on missions and providing him a suitable place to sleep. Casino was not thrilled when asked to make a casket. Despite his aversion to vile spirits and things of the darkness, Chief helped with the task. They lined it with down pillows and the con man was happy and rested again.

Other problems cropped up. Actor could no longer see any reflection in a mirror. Garrison had to be taught how to apply makeup. It was something the West Point graduate found extremely distasteful, but if anything, he had become closer friends with his second, so he learned. The strange thing was Actor no longer grew facial hair and that on his head did not lengthen.

Chapter 2

The shadows were lengthening into night. Garrison was sitting at his desk, trying to write a report on their last mission and leave out the part about Actor ‘feeding’ off of a German soldier, when he heard a loud thud from upstairs. He glanced up and decided he had better investigate.

Actor’s door was closed. Cautiously, Craig pushed it open. It hit something and stopped. A moan was heard and movement.

“You may enter now,” said the Italian’s voice.

Slowly, Garrison opened the door to find the con man sitting on the floor, ruefully rubbing his head.

“What happened?”

“It was really quite interesting,’ said Actor. “I suddenly turned into a bat."

“Bat. As in flying rat?” asked Garrison dubiously.

“I am not a rat,” declared the con man indignantly, “but yes.” He frowned. “The problem is I don’t know how to fly. I went head first into the door.”

Craig couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing.

“I resent your amusement, Warden.” Actor gave him a sour look.

Despite himself, Craig was beginning to find these new quirks of his second to be fascinating. “Can you do it again?”

“What, turn into a bat?” asked Actor, rising to his feet.

“Yes. I think I’d like to see this.”

The con man mentally pulled into himself and morphed flowingly into a large black bat. He made a few turns around his room before turning back into himself. 

“I think I am going to enjoy flying,” said Actor with a grin.

“I’ll stick to flying airplanes,” said Craig, dubiously.

The ability to change into a bat helped Actor greatly. Now he could roam the countryside over a greater distance at night looking for meals. The farther away the better was Garrison’s thought.  
The missions became exercises in creativity. They had to keep Actor in some kind of darkness during the daylight hours. Now they traded their duffle bags for a box . . . a large box. If they were in a safe house, the con man shut himself into a closet until the sun went down. 

As expected, Casino was the most vocal about the new arrangements. They arrived back at the mansion one morning, just before dawn. Actor was happy to get back to his normal padded coffin and headed for the stairs.

“Why do we have to do everything at night now?” grumbled Casino. “Ain’t our fault Actor got bit by the wrong dame.”

Actor swung around and displayed his fangs with a hiss.

“Pull the fangs in!” ordered the safecracker. “Or I’ll knock ‘em out for you. That oughta take care of things. Then we wouldn’t have tuh put up with you.”

“They grow right back, Casino,” said Actor drolly retracting the fangs. “And you needn’t worry. I am not hungry enough to resort to partaking of your inferior blood. I don’t particularly like type B anyway. I prefer AB negative, but it is so hard to find. “O” will just have to do.” 

GGG

Keeping Actor covered was becoming a necessity. Sunlight was a definite problem. If Actor’s skin was touched by sunlight, it began to blister and burn. It took all of them a while to get used to that and they were not always alert enough to keep it from happening. Garrison was learning to just take it in stride.

The sun was just beginning to rise above the far side wall. It cast its first rays through the kitchen window. Garrison knew Actor would have to retire to his coffin soon. Maybe they would get to finish their coffee first. Craig poured himself another cup and set the pot back on the hob. He turned and noticed a thin tendril of white smoke winding up over the con man’s head. The problem was, Actor wasn’t smoking his pipe.

“You might want to move,” suggested Garrison, taking a sip of coffee.

Actor looked up questioningly. “Why?”  
“You’re smoldering.”

The con man’s head jerked around and he saw the smoke. Quickly he jumped up and moved to the corner of the counter, away from the light, and vainly tried to put out the small flame that now appeared behind his right shoulder. He couldn’t quite reach it. 

Garrison calmly walked around the other end of the table to the sink and filled a glass with water. He walked up as Actor turned his back to him and threw the water over the flame. Steam rose, but the fire was out.

“Ahh, thank you, Warden,” sighed Actor in relief.

“Any time.”

“I think I had best be going upstairs to my nice cozy, safe coffin.”

“Have a good sleep. See you tonight.”

GGGGG

It was late in October. Terry had been gone for two months, working full time now with Lt. Johnson’s group. Finally, she was able to go back to Garrison’s group. She had returned to the mansion in the afternoon, after the men had returned from a mission. The men had come straggling down from their rooms with the exception of Actor. None of the cons was willing to inform the girl of Actor’s new ‘persona’. Garrison figured he would chicken out and let Actor explain himself.

Terry was sitting at the kitchen table, dicing vegetables for her soup. She smiled with satisfaction at the pumpkin cake cooling on the rack. What was Halloween without pumpkin? The back door opened and Actor came in bringing with him a shot of cold autumn night air. She briefly wondered what he was doing in the backyard after dark, but that thought was quickly brushed aside by the pleasure of seeing him again after so long.

“You are back!” Actor said with more obvious pleasure than usual.

“Yes,” she replied. After a quick glance at the closed kitchen door, she added. “I’ve missed you, caro.”

“Ah, and you have no idea how much I have missed you.”

He paused as he was passing behind her and gently pulled the hair back from the right side of her neck. To her surprise, he bent down and began kissing her neck and throat. She laid the knife down, tilted her head and gave a soft appreciative hum. Her eyes widened and then narrowed as his lips kissed, nibbled and sucked on her throat. The tip of his tongue flicking her skin had her eyes going wider. They went wider still when he began sucking on her neck hard enough to leave a mark. What on earth was the matter with the Italian? He was never that amorous, even on a con.

“Actor . . .,” she whispered in caution and question. If anybody walked in, they would both be dead.

Actor pulled back and smiled at her. “You taste delicious, cara,” he said quietly in her ear. “I am most appreciative of the aperitif.”

Terry stared at him in astonishment. His smile widened to an open grin showing upper fangs. Terry burst out laughing. Actor flicked his eyebrows up at her before moving away.

“Later, My Love,” he said softly as he left.

Terry was laughing hysterically. She would never have imagined the fangs and joking from the aristocratic con man.

Craig looked up from his desk as Actor walked past his door. “Did you tell her?”

Actor shook his head. “I must find the right time. Teresa with a knife in her hand is not the right time.”

“So what did you do to her to get that kind of reaction?”

The con man paused in front of the doorway with a look of obvious confusion on his face. “I have no clue, Warden,” he said seriously. “I simply walked behind her. I had no idea she finds me so amusing.” The last was spoken with a touch of indignation that may or may not have been a con.

“There’s no telling with her, Actor,” said Craig with a shake of his head.

Actor shot a glance at the laughter still coming from the kitchen. “At least she is happy,” he said with satisfaction.

A bit later, Terry walked into Craig’s office. She had calmed down to a grin. He looked up at her and frowned.

“What did you do to your neck?” he asked.

“Nothing,” said Terry, wishing she had covered up what had to be a bruise, before letting anyone see her.

“You’re bleeding.”

Terry reached a hand up to where Actor had been sucking and pulled sticky fingers away with a smear on blood on them. She did not remember feeling the con man actually bite her. “Must have scratched myself", she said.

She walked back out to the common room and sent an exasperated look at Actor. He smiled at her and then the tip of his tongue flicked out to lick the middle of his upper lip. Terry shook her head. She hoped he got over whatever strange mood he was in soon.

Garrison followed her out and stopped her with a hand on her arm. He pushed the hair back over her shoulder and took a closer look at the wounds on her neck. Rage tore through him and he spun around to glare at the confidence man.

“Get me a wooden stake and a hammer!” he yelled to Casino.

“A little late for that, don’t yuh think, Warden?” said Casino with sarcasm. He had known what was coming as soon as the girl returned to them.

“Why, Actor? You know what you’ve done to her?” demanded Craig. “I told you to stay away from us and that included Terry.”

“What?” asked Terry with confusion.

“I’m sorry, Warden,” said the con man with some contrition. “She is irresistible and I haven’t eaten in three days. She is AB negative like I am. I couldn’t control myself.”

“What are you two talking about?” demanded the girl.

“He’s a vampire, Babe. So are you now,” replied Casino.

Terry looked at all of them and burst out laughing. “Funny, Guys. Real funny!” She turned to her brother. “You are getting good there, Craig. I was believing you. Actor’s taught you well.”

“Terry,” said Garrison in exasperation. “It’s true. He’s a vampire.”

Terry laughed again. “Oh enough already. There’s no such thing as a vampire. That’s some Transylvania story to scare children.”

“No it ain’t,” said Chief. “And he’s a shape-changer.”

“Love, he really is a vampire. And if ‘e bit you, you’re turnin’ into one.”

Had they all lost their minds? She turned toward Actor. The man looked at her downright sheepishly. He smiled with his upper teeth protruding. The fangs she had seen in the kitchen were still there.

“Okay, take them off before you cut your mouth up,” she said.

Not changing his smile, the fangs retracted. Never moving, Actor brought them down again. The laugh on the girl’s face froze and drained away.

“How did you do that?” she asked dubiously.

“I am afraid you will learn how, very soon,” said Actor apologetically.

She turned to the other three men. Goniff pulled a cord up from under his shirt with a garlic bulb dangling from the bottom. Casino and Chief did the same. Terry turned to her brother. He pulled one up too. And she had wondered why she was smelling garlic when she was around them. It had to be some kind of insane joke.

GGG

It was no joke. As she became more anemic, Actor went out at night and as distasteful as it was, killed a cow and drained some blood from it into a canteen. Hurrying back to the mansion he poured the slightly congealing fluid into a glass and took it to Terry. She stared at him before shifting her attention to what he had in his hand. All she knew was she wanted it and she wanted it now. He stood by and watched her gulp it down, wiping the remnants from her lips with a handkerchief. A relieved smile crossed her face, turning into a glare at the con man as she realized the full implication of what she had just done.

“You are one, aren’t you?” she asked accusingly.

He nodded in resignation.

“And you made me one?” she asked in disbelief.

“I apologize, Teresa,” he said. “I found you irresistible.” He shrugged philosophically. “Now we will not grow older and we will have eternity together.”

“Right now I’m not sure I want to spend eternity with you.”

“I understand,” Actor said. “I hope you will change your mind.”

Maybe being female had an effect on the changes, because Terry changed more rapidly that Actor had. Her reflection was gone the next day. The con man took over combing her hair and applying her makeup, as she did the same for him, relieving Craig of that duty.

Terry walked downstairs after waking up from sleeping all day. Reaching the bottom of the steps, she stopped suddenly.

“Ouch!” said Terry, making a face. “I bit myself.”

“Ah your fangs are coming in,” declared Actor, pleased. “I don’t know how to teach you, but they do retract.”

“You two are sick,” said Casino disgustedly. 

Garrison stepped out of his office. “Good.” He turned to Actor. “Now you can teach her how to ‘feed’. The Sgt/Major wasn’t too happy about cleaning the blood from that glass the other day.”

Actor smiled at the girl. “Get dressed, cara. We are going to London.”

“There’s a Sanguine Bar there?” she asked hopefully.

“Oh, an entire smorgasbord,” Actor assured her dramatically.

“Good, I’ll go change.” Terry paused and looked at her brother. “Is there any way of making my room darker during the day? It’s hard to sleep.”

“I know,” said Casino in disgusted resignation, “make another coffin.”

“Two,” said Garrison. “We’ll have to take her on missions in one, same as Actor.”

GGG

The two undead returned from London a little before dawn. Both were well fed and content. 

“Hey,” said Terry. “Show me that again. I want to watch you change.”

Obligingly, Actor morphed into a large black bat, circled the common room and morphed back into his human form.

“How do you do that?” Terry asked.

“I’m not sure,” replied Actor. “I just . . .” He changed back and forth again.  
Terry pulled a face of concentration. Suddenly, she changed into a smaller bat, and dropped to the floor with a thud. She returned to human form while lying on the floor and propped herself up on her hands, shaking her head. She looked up at Actor’s grinning face.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, still grinning.

“No.”  
Disgustedly the girl rose to her feet.

“It will come quickly, Teresa,” Actor assured her.

And it did. That evening, after dark, Terry came in the front door, walked over to the con man sitting in his chair, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you, caro. I feel so much better.”

“I am delighted, cara,” replied Actor.

“Ate well last night?” asked Casino, in disgust.

“Oh yes,” said Terry cheerfully.

“Oh bloody ‘ell,” said Goniff with a shudder.

“Wrong choice of words, Goniff,” said Chief.

“You two are crazy,” said Garrison from his office.

“No, Warden, just a little batty,” said Actor with a grin. He turned to Terry. “Have you flown yet?”

“Kind of,” said the girl. “I made it out the window without breaking the glass, but then I hit the tree. I thought that was automatic with bats. They don’t fly into things.”

“It took me a week to keep from running into things. I rather like flying,” said Actor.

“It’s fun,” agreed Terry.

GGG

The missions became even more taxing, having to carry two coffin sized boxes with their own parachutes. If it was a night drop the two vampires jumped with the men. If it was a rare daylight drop they were shoved out of the plane in their boxes. Sub transfers were just not done. They could manage the fishing boats. On a particularly long mission requiring a lot of walking in the daytime, the three men began complaining.

“Blimey, Warden,” whined Goniff. “This is worse than that water ‘eater we took out o’ France.”

“Yeah,” agreed Chief. “Wherever we go we gotta cart those two coffins with us.”

“Sister, ain’t too heavy,” remarked Casino, “but Actor ain’t no lightweight.”

That night, when the coffins had been opened, Garrison looked at his two undead team members. “Can you two sleep in bat form?”

“I have done it once,” admitted the Italian.

“Casino,” called Garrison. “When we get back, make them each a bat box.”

“What the heck is a bat box?” asked Casino.

“A box to carry bats,” replied Garrison. “Has to be lighter than two coffins.”

“In that case you better pad them well,” said Terry. “The way you guys fling things around on a mission we’ll be battered before we even get to the drop zone.”

The safecracker not only made them each a ‘bat box’, but one larger one that could accommodate both of them together. There was a bar across the top of the inside of each box so Actor and Terry could hang comfortably. And as requested, the inside was well padded.

When the team only needed to take one duffle bag, they used the larger bat box, otherwise, the two were transported separately. 

On one mission that lasted over two nights and one day, the two bats slept inside the larger box, placed in the middle of the table in the safe house. The sun had gone down and the blackout drapes were over the windows. 

Casino couldn’t resist. He dragged the box over to the edge of the table, opened the door and peered inside. Actor and Terry were hanging upside down from the bar across the top of the enclosure.

“Ah, ain’t they cute,” said Casino snottily. “They’re sleepin’ together.”

The larger bat had the smaller one enfolded under his wings. One wing unfurled and the middle ‘finger’ stuck back toward the safecracker.

GGG

The small bat soared and swirled down the staircase and around the common room. 

“Terry!’ yelled Garrison from his office.

A squeal was emitted into the air which sounded vaguely like ‘yee haw.’

“Knock it off!”

The larger bat glided elegantly from the upstairs to morph back into human form at the base of the steps. The little bat landed with a splat against his chest and slid down him as she morphed to her usual self.

Casino grinned nastily. “So how do you two – uh – do it?” he asked.

“Like normal people,” replied Terry, off-handedly.

“Yuh mean yuh can’t do it when you’re bats?”

“We have not tried that yet,” said Actor, not wanting to admit they did not know how bats ‘did it’.

Garrison came to the door and stared at the two. “You two are having sex?”

“Really, Craig,” objected Terry. “We have a little bit more finesse than that.”

“But you’re doing it?” he persisted.

“Warden,” said Actor in his reasonable tone of voice. “Eternity is a very long time. We intend to enjoy it.”

GGG

That night, after the others were asleep, Actor brought the larger box down to the library and set it in the middle of the table. The two gave each other a wicked grin and morphed into bats. The two bats crabbed their way into the big bat box and hung side-by-side from the top bar. They turned their heads to face each other twisting to get at an angle that was agreeable. It was more frustrating than anything. 

“It’s impossible to kiss like this,” lamented Terry.

‘Never having studied bats, I have no idea what they do,” admitted Actor.

Terry inched down the bar away from the Italian and studied him. “I have the strongest urge to hang from you, right side up,” she said in wonder. “I mean a really strong desire.”

She inched back and crawled down his body, turning and wrapping her wings around him to keep herself upright. “Oh, this is interesting.”

Though she was smaller, the con man found the position rather enticing. “Um, Teresa. …Teresa! Be careful with that, it’s unfortunately tiny. You’ll bite it off.”

“It’s not tiny, Actor. It’s a matter of proportion.”

“Yes, well proportion or not . . . .Merda! Teresa!”

“ Oh, Actor! That is so big!”

“Stop talking and go back to what you were doing!” he urged her.

A moment later, “Actor! Oooo, don’t stop.”

The box began to bounce as their movements became more frenzied.

Later, the two back, back to their usual selves, sat on the sofa in front of a fire, both exhausted.

“That was – um – interesting,” said Terry. She looked up into Actor’s honey-colored eyes. “Do you think we could try that in human form?”

The man’s eyebrows rose. “Perhaps on another night when we have more privacy.” And he was more rested.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. A second later they snapped opened and he frowned down at the young woman. “Cara, you are insatiable.”

“Are you complaining?” she asked knowingly.

“Not in the least.”

Chapter 3

Actor became aware of sounds and smells. Hospital. Hospital? He did not recall passing out. He had just fed not too long ago. Now he felt the intravenous in his left forearm. Transfusion? Why?  
Slowly he opened his eyes to the familiar cracked white ceiling. It was light in the room. Not the yellowish light from the incandescent bulbs. No, this was light from the sun. It hurt his eyes a little, but not the recoiling blinding pain it should have been.

“It’s about time you woke up.”

Actor turned his head to see Garrison sitting to his left. “Warden?” 

His voice came out in a croak and his mouth was very dry. A straw was held to his lips and he drank the tepid, chemically tasting water; gulped it in fact. It was taken away too soon. When had he started drinking water again, or anything for that matter?

“What possessed you to take the motorcycle?”

“Motorcycle? What motorcycle?”

Patiently, Craig replied. “You took Terry’s motorcycle for some reason. Apparently you were riding at high speed on the road to London last night and hit a pothole. You were darned lucky. You missed the tree, but you totaled the bike.”

Actor frowned. He remembered nothing. He had fed. Why was he going to London? His tongue made a sweep of his teeth. They were all intact.

“Warden?” Actor opened his mouth and curled his lips back. He tried, but nothing happened.

“What? Your teeth loose?” asked Garrison.

“No,” denied the con man. “My fangs?”

“Fangs?” laughed Craig. “Your eye teeth are just fine. They’re not broken.”

The door opened and Terry walked in with a cup of coffee in each hand. She took a sip from one and handed the other to her brother.

“My turn to sit with him. Schaeffer called and he wants you in his office for a briefing in two hours.”

She glanced at the open eyes watching her from the man in the bed.

“He’s awake!” she said delightedly.  
“Yes, but his chimes are rung again,” warned Craig.

Terry handed her coffee cup to her brother. “Well of course they are,” she said. “He’s been out for hours.”

She walked around to the other side of the bed and smiled down at Actor. Her hand reached down and stroked the top of his head as she bent and placed a kiss on the un-abraded part of his forehead.  
“Hello, Sweetheart. Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“Oh, Terry, please,” groaned Garrison as dramatically as his con man could. “Do you have to do that in front of me?”

“Why not?” asked Terry. ‘You don’t believe us anyway. Besides, he’s always a sweetheart to me.” She frowned. ‘Well, usually. . . sometimes.” She gave Actor a mock glare. “You totaled my motorcycle and you bit me and drew blood.”

Land of the living, thought Actor. But he and Teresa were of the undead. So he did bite her! They were playing games with him.

“Show me your teeth,” he commanded the girl.

“What?” she asked in confusion.

“Told you,” said Craig. “He woke up with a tooth fetish.”

“Teresa, show me your teeth!”

To humor him, she opened her mouth a pulled he lips back.

“Now show me your fangs,” he said urgently.

“My what?” she asked in disbelief.

“Your fangs! Show me your fangs!”  
“Actor, I don’t have fangs,” Terry said firmly.

Craig shook his head. “He thinks he does.”

“You don’t have fangs,” said Terry just as firmly.

“Yes, I do. We both do! But they aren’t working.”

Terry had to ask. “And why would we have fangs?”

“Because we’re vampires!”

That was too much. The girl couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. Turning to Garrison, she asked, “How much alcohol did he have on board when he wrecked?”

“Doc Kaiser said not enough to do anything.” Garrison shook his head.

Terry chuckled and stroked the top of the con man’s head.

“I’m sorry, Actor, we’re not vampires and we don’t have fangs.” She motioned her brother to leave, taking her coffee from him. “Fangs. Wa-a-ay too much pumpkin pie spice.”


End file.
